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1 Month Healthy Food Challenge

If you are like us, you closely read the labels to whatever packaged food you buy. If you also try to limit added sugar in your diet, like we do, you realize that it is nearly ubiquitous as a flavoring for every type of packaged food you can imagine. It is obvious that, if you want to limit sugar, you will need to do a lot of your own meal preparation, and examine ingredient lists carefully.

Still, it is hard to imagine a single day without the sweetener. We live in a culture where, despite knowing full well the health risks of excess sugar intake, the substance is celebrated in many circles, and many go so far as to say that it is necessary for life, confusing the body’s process for converting food into glucose.

However, living a sugar-free life was a challenge taken on by Sacha Harland. He wanted to embark upon a quest to determine how much affect this subtle dietary alteration would have on his physical and mental well-being.

To measure the results, Harland took a before and after visitation to a sports physician, who measured certain keys to good health, such as weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.

It is important to note that this experiment withheld added sugar, rather than naturally-derived sugars such as those found in fruit. Still, Harland did not anticipate exactly how challenging this experience would be. In the beginning, he goes through a major withdrawal highlighted by a feeling of constant hunger. Interestingly, this eventually turned 180 degrees into a lack of desire for sugary foods he was once so used to consuming.

Although his journey was not easy, it’s amazing to see what one can achieve through sheer willpower. There is literally no change that we cannot make in our lives when we put our minds to it.

While seemingly impossible at first, persistence allowed Harland to view sugary foods in the way they were intended: as an occasional treat rather than part of a regular diet. Moderation is the key to all addictive substances, after all, and sugar is highly addictive.

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